


Not Adulting Today

by adorkablephil (kimberly_a)



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-21
Updated: 2017-07-21
Packaged: 2018-12-04 22:26:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11564574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kimberly_a/pseuds/adorkablephil
Summary: Dan reads aloud to Phil





	Not Adulting Today

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this bit of fluff for @inkyhowlter on Tumblr and anyone else grieving right now for the tragic loss of Chester Bennington to mental illness. My heart is with you all and with his loved ones, and I hope this little ficlet offers a bit of comfort to those of you in the phandom. (The idea was inspired by [this VYou response of Dan’s](https://youtu.be/K0L_bLzVuqo).)

Dan slouched down on the sofa, trying to get into a comfortable position. Most of their furniture at the old flat had been purchased when they were poor and had therefore not been of a quality to stand up well to years of abuse by two sizeable men who spent most of their time at home, and so it had yielded to their every whim. Or at least their every spinal curvature.

Their new sofa, on the other hand, did not have the pliable nature Dan had grown accustomed to, and he found himself in a daily struggle for dominance which the sofa always won. Apparently, now that he and Phil had money and could afford real furniture, he would need to learn to sit like an adult.

He was not relishing the challenge.

He shifted again, stubbornly trying to get the sofa cushions to bend to his will. They continued to defy him, and he sighed in annoyance.

The sound of a key in the lock told him Phil was finally home from his optometrist appointment. At least now he would have someone to complain to about the sofa’s recalcitrance. Phil was an excellent listener, even about the stupidest crap.

“Dan?” Phil called from the entryway, and Dan heard the door close and lock.

“In the lounge,” Dan called back, setting aside his laptop and preparing to launch into his furniture diatribe.

But when Phil walked into the room, Dan burst out laughing at the sight of him. He was wearing his glasses, of course, since he couldn’t wear his contacts to the optometrist, but he had some kind of cardboard sunglasses propped over the frames to cover the lenses.

“That’s some high-fashion eyewear you’re sporting there, Phil!” Dan grinned.

Phil pulled the cardboard sunglasses off and tossed them on the table before flopping down onto the couch beside Dan. The sofa cushions barely moved, of course. “The doctor dilated my pupils,” Phil explained in a petulant voice. “So I needed to protect my eyes from light. And it makes my vision so blurry that I can’t even use my phone!”

Dan made an exaggerated pouty face and fake-commiserated, “Oh, poor Philly can’t play Candy Crush?”

Phil hunched down into the unforgiving sofa and sulked. “I can’t use my laptop. I can’t use my phone. I can’t even **read**. It’s supposed to last at least 2 more hours! What am I going to do? I’ll be bored out of my mind!”

Dan got a sneaky idea. “I could read to you,” he offered slyly.

Phil looked at him, surprised. “Really?”

“Sure!” Dan enthused. “Just wait here. I’ll be right back.”

He’d been trying to get Phil to read The Edge Chronicles since they first met, but with no success. He didn’t think Phil actively **avoided** the books, but Dan’s constant urging over the years still had born no fruit. They’d been Dan’s absolute favorite books from his childhood, though, and had a huge impact on him growing up, so he desperately wanted to share their magical beauty with the person closest to him in the world.

Now he had a captive audience.

He grabbed the first book of the series, _Beyond the Deepwoods_ , off his shelf and carried it with him back to the lounge. Phil was half-reclined on the couch, his head tilted awkwardly to rest against the back cushion. Dan settled himself as comfortably as possible without a proper sofa crease and patted his lap. “Lie down,” he urged, and Phil lay down with his head in Dan’s lap, his feet dangling off the other end of the sofa. Even with plenty of money, they hadn’t found a sofa really long enough for either of them to stretch out to their full height.

Dan pushed Phil’s hair back from his forehead and removed his glasses, setting them on the side table. “Just close your eyes,” he said softly, “and picture what I’m reading. It’s amazing.”

“What is it?” Phil asked. He rested one of his warm hands on Dan’s knee beside his head.

“Just listen,” Dan shushed him. And then he opened the book and turned to the first page, happiness suffusing him at finally getting to share this with Phil after all these years. “‘Far far away,’” he began in his best stage actor voice learned from years of being a drama nerd, “‘jutting out into the emptiness beyond, like the figurehead of a mighty stone ship, is the Edge.’” The familiar words and images reminded him of his childhood self reading this same book with such a sense of wonder. He glanced down at Phil’s relaxed, trusting face and stroked his hair again, then continued. “‘A torrent of water pours endlessly over the lip of rock at its overhanging point.’”

He glanced down at Phil again and saw a small understanding smile curving his lips. Phil’s hand gently squeezed Dan’s knee, encouraging him to continue, and Dan did.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not posting my fic publicly much right now, but I wanted to offer this little bit of fluff in case it might make someone sad smile for a moment.


End file.
